Greatest Final Four moments

By Matt Young

on March 30, 2016 2:31 PM

1979: Magic Johnson outduels Larry Bird

There wasn't a singular moment in this game that stands out, it was the whole night. March Madness didn't exist before Magic Johnson and Larry Bird began what would become one of basketball's greatest rivalries. This was the game that made the final Monday of college basketball season must-see TV. Magic vs. Bird. Magic was black. Bird was white. Magic was a talker. Bird was stoic, At the time, it had the highest Nielsen ratings of any game in the history of American basketball. Magic's Michigan State team beat previously undefeated Indiana State 75-64, but it was more about the duel between Magic - who finished with 24 points and seven rebounds - and Bird, who had 19 points and 13 rebounds.

In North Carolina State's 54-52 upset of Houston's Phi Slama Jama team, is the lasting memory Lorenzo Charles slamming home Dereck Whittenburg's errant shot at the buzzer, or is it Jim Valvano running around the court looking for someone to hug? Or, if you're from Houston, maybe it's the Cougars' bench player laying face down on the court with Phi Slama Jama written across the back of his warmup jacket while he pounds the floor with his fist. Magic vs. Bird was the start of March Madness, but this historic upset showed fans that anything really is possible in March.

Just two years after North Carolina State made Cinderella a real-life character in the NCAA Tournament, Villanova made sure it had a recurring role. The moment you remember from this game is Villanova's Dwayne McClain safely securing the inbounds pass with a two-point lead and two seconds left when he crashes into a Georgetown player and falls to the ground with both arms wrapped around the basketball as time expires and the Wildcats storm the floor. Villanova played a near perfect game that night, missing just six shots from the field and shooting 78.6 percent.

1985: Villanova holds off Georgetown in the final seconds...photo-7764484.127339 - |ucfirst

1966: Texas Western strikes a blow for civil rights

It's hard to pick out an individual moment in this game, mainly because it wasn't even shown on live TV, but it was one of the most important sporting events in the country's history. Not only was Texas Western the first team with an all-black starting five to win an NCAA championship when it beat No. 1 Kentucky 72-65, but coach Don Haskins opted to stick with a seven-man rotation with all seven players being black. The win came against all-white Kentucky and coach Adolph Rupp, who was known as a racist. Hall of Fame coach Nolan Richardson, who played at Texas Western before the Miners won a championship, calls the game "college basketball's Emancipation Proclamation."

Some might forget that North Carolina freshman Michael Jordan scored just 16 points in the Tar Heels' 63-62 win over Georgetown for Dean Smith's first national title, but no one will forget his 16-foot jumper from the wing. With North Carolina trailing by a point and 32 seconds left, Smith drew up a play to get the ball to James Worthy. When that didn't work, the ball swung to the freshman, who squared up and calmly knocked down a jumper with 16 seconds remaining. The other unforgettable moment came on Georgetown's next possession when Fred Brown somehow passed the ball directly to Worthy to seal the Hoyas' defeat.

Five years after Michael Jordan hit one of the most famous shots in college basketball history, Indiana's Keith Smart knocked down almost the exact same jumper. Trailing Syracuse by a point with 28 seconds left, Indiana tried to get the ball to dead-eye shooter Steve Alford, but the Orangemen had him blanketed. Instead, the ball ended up in Smart's hands about 17 feet from the basket on the left corner. Just like Jordan did, Smart squared up and calmly hits the game-winner with four seconds left to give the Hoosiers a 74-73 win over a Syracuse team loaded with NBA talent like Derrick Coleman, Rony Seikaly and Sherman Douglas.

Trailing 73-71, Michigan's Fab Five leader Chris Webber grabbed a rebound on a missed North Carolina free throw with 20 seconds left. For whatever reason, the Wolverines' usual ballhandlers took off down the court, leaving Webber to bring the ball up himself. Confused, Webber tried to call a timeout, but the officials didn't see it, which is fortunate since Michigan had no timeouts left. Completely out of sync, Webber hurriedly dribbled upcourt and straight into a trap in front of his own bench. As the Michigan bench players are yelling, "No timeouts!," all Webber apparently heard is the word "timeout," so he calls one with 11 seconds left. The result is a technical foul, two clinching North Carolina free throws and permanent goat horns for Webber.

It had been more than 20 years since Michael Jordan and Keith Smart's game-winning shots, so Mario Chalmers figured it was about time for another one. Kansas came back from nine points down with 2:12 left in regulation and sent the game to overtime on Chalmer's 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds remaining. After a Derrick Rose missed free throw, Memphis tried to foul Kansas point guard Sherron Collins so the Jayhawks couldn't attempt a 3-pointer. Instead, Collins muscled his way through and shoved a pass to Chalmers as he came curling off the wing. Chalmers' shot found the bottom of the net to send the game to overtime where Kansas went on to win 75-68.

This actually was just a national semifinal game, but this was the night that turned Duke from lovable losers into a program with a target on its back. A year after losing to UNLV by 30 points in the national championship game, Duke was back for more and this time UNLV was undefeated. The Runnin' Rebels led by five with 2:15 left when Duke point guard Bobby Hurley drilled a 3-pointer from the left wing that sparked a Blue Devils' rally that would eventually lead to a national championship win over Kansas two nights later and the beginning of back-to-back titles for Christian Laettner, Hurley and Grant HIll.

1991: Duke slays the UNLV giant This actually was just a...photo-7559008.127339 - |ucfirst

1974: David Thompson, NC State end UCLA's dynasty

This is another national semifinal game that isn't so much a singular moment, but a big night for the sport. UCLA had made the NCAA Tournament a foregone conclusion by winning seven straight titles. Then, David Thompson put an end to the dominance. North Carolina State came back from a seven-point deficit in the final minutes with a game-ending 13-3 run. Thompson finished with 28 points and 10 rebounds, somehow toppling Bill Walton, who played all 50 minutes and had 29 points and 18 rebounds. Two days later, NC State claimed the national title with a win over Marquette.

There wasn't a singular moment in this game that stands out, it was the whole night. March Madness didn't exist before Magic Johnson and Larry Bird began what would become one of basketball's greatest rivalries. This was the game that made the final Monday of college basketball season must-see TV. Magic vs. Bird. Magic was black. Bird was white. Magic was a talker. Bird was stoic, At the time, it had the highest Nielsen ratings of any game in the history of American basketball. Magic's Michigan State team beat previously undefeated Indiana State 75-64, but it was more about the duel between Magic - who finished with 24 points and seven rebounds - and Bird, who had 19 points and 13 rebounds.